Baby Your Boat – Boat Detailing Tips from a Professional Detailer

You’ve saved for years to purchase your little (or big) piece of paradise from your local boat dealer. After putting your life savings, heart, soul, time, sweat and tears into your boat for a couple of years she’s starting to look a bit abused.
The honeymoon is over. The luster is gone. You no longer spend hours caressing her with wax or slathering her with fresh water after a hard day on the water. She’s showing the signs a lot of fun times – stained deck, dull finish, barely transparent isinglass- but she ages shockingly quickly without your constant love, attention and dedication to keeping her in tip top shape. Can’t you just hear her begging you for a good shower and rub-down?

Since 1999 Debbie Huth with Debbie’s Detailing in Boca Raton, has been doing just that- showering and rubbing down local boats, transforming even the most homely vessels into sleek, sexy boats. Debbie has the following tips to help you keep your baby as sexy as when you bought her.

1. Lift Her Up! Store your boat on a lift, especially if you are a salt-water boater. The constant exposure to salt water can cause deterioration in the boat itself and in the equipment installed on the boat. This also decreases the risk of taking on water unexpectedly (a.k.a. sinking).

2. Get Her Wet! After every use rinse your boat with fresh water. Be sure to rinse the hull, the deck, isinglass, canvas, and motor. Don’t forget to flush the motor as well!

3. Give Her a Bubble Bath! Wash your boat with soap and fresh water every other week. Debbie recommends car soap because it is less harsh on the gel coat and deck.

4. Rub Her Down! Wax your boat at least twice a year to keep her paint and gel coat protected. This also helps keep her hull shinier.

5. Be Sure You Can See Through Her. Use Starbright on old isinglass or Plexis on newer isinglass. These polishes diminish the haze on the isinglass, making it easier to see through it.

6. Don’t Overdo It. Don’t buy every cleaning supply available. Debbie suggests sticking to the basics when cleaning your boat- car soap, bleach, On-Off Hull and Bottom Cleaner and fresh water.
To keep your boat sexy and looking like you just brought her home, be attentive. Wash her regularly, use the right products, wax her 2-4 times and year and, ideally, have a professional like Debbie and her team (Debbie’s Detailing in Delray, FL) assist you.

Have questions for Debbie? Ask in the comments below or call her at 561.715.9216.

About the Author: Jessica Anderson is co-owner of eBoat Listings and strives to be a boat bum. After a year of sailing the Caribbean, she and her fiance continued their boating adventures through sailing, diving and interviewing local marine-industry talent to deliver useful information to fellow boaters.